I have you now
by Sheila Prior
Summary: Annie sees something that brings back memories of the past, what can Abed do to help?
**Hey guys, so, I was recently re-watching Community, and I absolutely adore Abed x Annie, even more after re-watching the dreamatorium episode. So here's a little oneshot that I was thinking about. There is a little Troy x Annie moment tho. I may do another with an OC of mine, who knows, I am still doing my les mis series, but only two more oneshots for that. Then I'll focus more on my unfinished Nalu stories.**

Annie had always wondered what a flashback was like. Abed had often described it as remembering something, being the literalist he is. Troy, Shirley, and Britta said it was heartwarming. Pierce and Jeff thought it was stupid. Out of the three, Abed's was probably the closest to how she felt right now, but not by a long shot. She had only been out for a walk, when she had stumbled into her old neighboorhood. When out of the corner of her eye, she saw them. Her parents. Walking with a little boy between them. She had been shocked. She didn't have a sibling, and her mom couldn't have been pregnant while she was in high school. That's when she realized it, she was a mistake, a defect, a mutation, a drug addicted daughter who had once seemed so promising. They wanted something new. A fresh start. No wonder she hadn't seen them in over 4 years. She felt her eyes get hot and she bolted back up the street, tears brushing down her cheeks and back behind her as she ran. As her apartment got closer into view, the mean nicknames from school came back to haunt her.

'Addict.'

'Little Annie Adderall.'

'Loser'

'FREAK' That one rang over and over in her head. Not two blocks away from her apartment, she collapsed onto the pavement, hyperventallating. She heard pounding footsteps on the ashphalt as she saw Troy and Abed come into view. Her vision blurred before falling sideways onto the sidewalk. Her eyes closed just as a worried Abed came into view.

~Abed's point of view, sort of~

Abed watched as Annie keeled over sideways.

"Troy, call an ambulance." He said in his usual tone, though inside he felt the way Troy looked, who was pacing as he waited for someone to answer the call. He could see tears of fear trailing down his friends face and finally turned away to make sure his other best friend was okay. She had a scrape on her knee from falling, and another on her cheek from the same thing. He could see blood blossoming against Annie's pale complexion. Wait, complexion, since when did he think about things like that? Especially on a girl. On Annie. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind as the ambulance arrived and took Annie away on a stretcer. The two men demanded they ride with her, concerned for their friend to say the least. After much persuading and begging, they allowed the two to come. As they rode in the ambulance, Troy texted the others, letting them know what was going on. As soon as they arrived at the hospital, the gang was already there. Annie was taken into a room and they waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Until Fiiiiiiiiiiiinally.

"Abed Nadir and Troy Barnes?" A nurse asked. The boys sat up.

"That's us." They said at the same time. Was Annie okay, was she sick, was she dead. Boy that was a horrible thought. Abed pushed that one away too. Troy voiced the question everyone was wondering."Is she okay?" The nurse nodded.

"She had a panic attack, she's gonna be fine. She kept muttering things in her sleep though, things like, Freak, pills, parents, kid, Adderall." Abed saw a look of realization and guilt on Troy's face as he put the pieces together. "We couldn't make sense of it. Either way she's wake now." They all breathed a collective sigh of relief."Two in at a time please." The rest of the group looked to Troy and Abed, they had found her, they helped, they should see her first. The duo understood and walked with the nurse to Annie's room. Annie was sitting up, looking blankly down at the sheets. And then was brought out of it.

"ANNIE!" They exclaimed and hugged her. Abed didn't say much after that as Troy was the blubbering mess he was.

"Uh guys, could you get off?" Annie giggled as they obliged and sat down. Troy looked at her, guilt crossing over his features.

"Annie, do you mind telling us what happened?" Abed requested. Annie bit her lip but told them what had happened. By the end of Troy was crying again as he hugged Annie."Troy it's okay." She patted his back.

"NO IT'S NOT OKAY." He cried."I TREATED YOU SO HORRIBLY, AND LET OTHERS GET AWAY WITH IT, I COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING." He felt ashamed, that much was obvious to Abed.

"But if you hadn't, then we wouldn't have become best friends, and we wouldn't have met Abed and the others." Annie smiled. Abed saw she was forcing it. He was observant enough to know she was trying not to cry for Troy's sake. It would've made things a lot worse. But what she had seen and what she remembered hurt her more than she let on."Abed, can you pass me my sweater? I wanna get out of here." She smiled fakely again. Abed nodded and threw her the black cardigan. The two went out as she changed. When she came out everyone hugged her and she explained in a nutshell what had happened and that she was fine, she promised. Abed knew it wasn't true. The three amigos went home afte saying goodbye. Abed made butter noodles and special drink for the three of them. Troy turned on a re run of inspector space time. All seemed well, but one was not.

Later that night Abed heard sniffles coming from Annie's room. He tip toed over troy's limbs that were sprawled out over the bunk bed. Once he was in the clear he walked normally and pressed his ear to the door. He pictured tissues strewn across the carpet as Annie hugged one, possibly two of her stuffed animals. He quietly rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Annie, are you okay in there?" That was a stupid question, of course she wasn't. Her response clarified that.

"Go away." A muffled voice came. He sighed, knowing Annie would be easier to face than his imagination.

"Annie, I'm coming in." His idea wasn't so far off, there were indeed tissues on the floor, and bed, and overflowed the waste basket. He saw two empty boxes. Annie herself was looking fine, from her back anyway. She sat facing away from the door, a small teddy bear sitting under her arms that wrapped around herself. When Abed came around to sit across from her, he saw her eyes were red and puffy and she had, not the disney face, but ten times the disney face. Like when all the princesses were told they couldn't- Stop it, this is about Annie. No pop culture right now. "Annie, I'm going to ask you something, and you have to promise me you'll answer truthfully." After an agonizing thirty seconds, she nodded."How much did what happened today affect you?" Atthat she burst and fell into Abed, sobbing into his pyjama shirt."Oh." He said quietly. He didn't know what to do, this wasn't one oftheir simulations in the dreamatorium, this was real life, real sobbing Annie, real unsure Abed. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close."Just let it out." He patted her back as she dropped the stuffed bear and wrapped her arms around him instead.

"My parents replaced me, with a new kid, they haven't talked to me in four years, people called me a freak and a loser in school, and they were right." She sobbed into him. He frowned. He had never seen her this upset before, not even over Jeff, not even over schoolwork. And that was saying something.

"You know Annie, we're all freaks, they called me the same things. And your parents are Crazy if they think they can replace someone so, Amazing, and talented, and smart, as you are." He looked at her. And he saw her smile, a real, genuine smile.

"Thanks Abed. You're right, screw the cheerleaders of high school, and screw old Troy, I'm great, especially because now I have you guys."


End file.
